ABC News bid to toss "pink slime" case set for Dec. 17

Dec 16 The fate of a $1.2 billion lawsuit
accusing ABC News of damaging a beef producer's profits and
reputation through its reports about a controversial product
dubbed by critics as "pink slime" might be determined this week.

Oral arguments on whether Beef Products Inc of Dakota Dunes,
South Dakota, should be able to pursue its case against ABC, a
unit of Walt Disney Co, are set for Dec. 17 before Judge
Cheryle Gering in a state court in Elk Point, South Dakota.

Once among the top producers of "lean finely textured beef,"
BPI said ABC News reports beginning in March 2012 cost it $400
million of profit by misleading consumers into believing the
product is unsafe.

BPI closed three of its four plants last year, laid off 650
employees, and saw annual revenue plunge roughly 80 percent to
$130 million from more than $650 million.

Other defendants include star ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer,
two reporters who covered the story in March and April 2012, and
two former U.S. Department of Agriculture employees and a former
BPI employee who were interviewed and quoted in ABC's coverage.

Actual damages could be tripled if ABC News were found
liable under South Dakota's Agricultural Food Products
Disparagement Act. BPI is also seeking punitive damages.

The case, which has been closely watched among both the
agriculture and media communities, could put modern television
journalism on trial and highlight the power of language in the
Internet Age. In the wake of the reports on "World News with
Diane Sawyer," the term "pink slime" went viral.

The case also underscores an intensifying war between the
farm sector and its critics over how food is made. That tension
has been keenly felt by the nation's cattle and hog producers,
who are just returning to profitability after years of
high-priced feed and lower prices for their animals. Now, beef
and pork retail prices in the United States have soared to
record highs over the past two months, and demand for both
remain seasonally strong.

The battle comes after Cargill Inc, one of the
world's largest beef processors, said on Nov. 5 that it will
indicate on its packaging labels when finely textured beef is
being used in its U.S. ground beef products.

ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider declined to comment,
but attorneys for the news division have said the case is
without merit. In court papers, ABC News has argued the lawsuit
was a bid to chill media coverage of the food industry.

William Marler, a lawyer representing the former USDA
employees, could not be reached for comment.

BPI says its "lean finely textured beef," a low-fat product
made from beef chunks and trimmings and exposed to bursts of
ammonium hydroxide to kill E. Coli and other dangerous
contaminants, was mischaracterized as pink slime 137 times over
four weeks in the ABC News reports and social media postings.

The term is believed to have been coined by a USDA scientist
in a 2002 email after a tour of a BPI plant, according to court
documents, documents obtained by Reuters and a New York Times
story from 2009.

WASHINGTON, Dec 9 The U.S. Agriculture
Department left its domestic supply estimates for corn, soybeans
and wheat unchanged on Friday, holding usage forecasts for all
three commodities steady with its November outlook.

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